1

Hogan: Tao doesn’t have a name. Names are for ordinary things.

Stop wanting stuff; it keeps you from seeing what’s real. When you want stuff, all you see are things. Those two sentences mean the same thing. Figure them out, and you’ve got it made.

The first time I read the Tao Te Ching and it began by saying the name that can be named is not the Name, I knew I was on to something. I’ve believed for a long time that there are things that are beyond language, and to see that same thesis as the starting point of one of the most well-known spiritual works around was thrilling. I’m still working on what ripples out from that spiritual framework. It’s rich and layered and, Lao Tzu would probably say, simple in the extreme.

McDonald: Mystery and reality emerge from the same source.